Denmark opened a new parliamentary year today, Tuesday, October 6th, at Christiansborg Palace, the seat of the Danish Parliament. This constitutional occasion, held on the first Tuesday of October each year, marks the beginning of a new parliamentary session. The Danish Parliament comprises 179 members and is responsible for legislation, approving the state budget, and overseeing the government.
King Frederick X, Queen Mary, and Princess Benedikte attended the opening ceremony, while Lars Løkke Rasmussen, the longest-serving member of parliament, opened the parliamentary session. Parliament also elected Henrik Frandsen of the Moderate Party as its new speaker, along with four deputy speakers. Read more after the announcement.
In her address to parliament, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen presented the government's priorities for the new parliamentary year, along with a number of new initiatives, most notably:
- A new prison in Kærshofedgaard, where the government intends to establish a special prison section near the Kærshofedgaard deportation center, so that people who have been ordered to be deported from Denmark can serve their prison sentences there, instead of being transferred to other prisons.
- "Welfare" housing: The government wants to create a new type of affordable housing for workers in essential professions, such as nurses, educators, and police officers, to help them afford housing in the cities where they work.
- Food tax cuts: Mette Frederiksen reiterated the government's plan to halve VAT on food items and eliminate it entirely on fruits and vegetables. She gave the example of a plate of pasta Bolognese, saying its cost could drop from around 105 kroner to 89 kroner, but acknowledged that it might take some time to implement.
- Free dental treatment for everyone, as it revived the discussion about the government's desire and goal to provide free dental care for all.
- Combating crime and social control: The government pledged to continue confronting crime and negative social control, and also spoke of tightening measures against some residents of the Kirshofedgard center.
- Conditions for obtaining citizenship: Frederiksen defended the plan to screen applicants for Danish citizenship to ensure they do not adopt positions the government considers anti-democratic.
- Tightening controls on agriculture: Frederiksen stressed the need for increased oversight and consequences in the animal husbandry sector, and criticized the high mortality rate of piglets in Denmark.
- Artificial intelligence: She said that artificial intelligence should be used to increase productivity, but while maintaining the role of humans, stressing that news should be written by journalists, and that exams should be passed by students, not artificial intelligence.
- Russia and disinformation, where the Prime Minister warned of Russian attempts to influence Danish public opinion, and called on citizens to deal cautiously with narratives relating to Ukraine, the war and Denmark’s support for Kyiv.
- In rural areas, the government pledged to take measures to prevent the widening gap between cities and rural areas, and to facilitate the implementation of projects and construction outside major cities.
- Finance Law: Frederiksen announced that the government will present the draft finance law for next year on Friday, noting that the government will reveal about 13 billion kroner of new funding as part of its goal to increase the state's fiscal space by at least 19 billion kroner by 2030.
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